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inion
Don’t forget pledges
A glance at UNITY’S promises
On the UNITY party’s campaign platform, President-elect
Andy Massey offered his vision of a New Campus
Order:
“Just as a house divided against itself cannot stand, neither
i can our campus. Now is the time to UNITE, to stand together,
I to work together, to aggressively work for the betterment of our
campus. .. .’’
He repeated that quotation often at Association of Students
i of the University of Nebraska debates. He told students to
; judge his party by its candidates and by its platform.
Those students who voted responded with overwhelming
support — 63 percent for Massey and his running mate, Eric
| Thurber, 67 percent for Gwyn Vaughn, second vice president
elect. Unfortunately, the vague discussion of issues at debates
3 leaves us unsure of what that two-thirds majority has done.
And a glance at UNITY’S platform doesn’t help much, either.
Like all student government platforms, UNITY’S contains
I some solid, workable ideas and some that are far-fetched, nebu
lous appeals for good public relations. Before the platform dis
■ appears, a second look at some of its main points is in order.
• One of UNITY’S most controversial ideas was the creation
of a day off in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. The other
| ASUN parties, and many students, opposed such a plan, saying
a day of emphasized education — in class, instead of at home
| would do more to raise awareness of minority issues. If stu
| dents want to turn down a day off, it must be for a good reason.
• UNITY wants to change the UNL alcohol policy. If the
party and many students had their way, of-age students would
be allowed to drink in private areas. Enthusiasm for such a plan
1 needs to be tempered, because it would have to go through the
administration. But UNITY was the only party that promised to
| work for such a change, and deserves credit.
• The party promised to locate “start-up funding’’ for a new
# Student Information System with improved student services
| such as registration. In this lean budget year, such funding will
I be hard to find. But the student system cannot be neglected; if
it is, it could collapse. (See story on pages 1 and 6).
• Under Massey's presidency, ASUN senators will be re
quired to attend at least one Academic Senate or NU Board of
Regents meeting, according to the platform. First, of course,
senators will have to attend ASUN meetings. But if they do
attend meetings of the other governing boards, they will learn a
| lot about university issues — as long as they watch and don’t
imitate.
• UNITY wants to publish teacher and course evaluations.
Making professors accountable while infonning students is a
| good idea, but it could be stalled by the right to privacy.
• UNITY wants to use minority affairs committees in
| ASUN to “fight issues of oppression on campus.” First, the
| committees, or any other type of minority representation, need
to be added in a constitutional way. Oppression won’t go away.
I But if the new ASUN leadership finds a structure to deal with
minority issues, it will have done more than this year’s student
government has so far.
The platform also includes a number of items that arc merely
suggestions. The new ASUN members can lobby for some;
others, they will have no control over.
To be effective, Massey & Co. also will need to deal with
issues as they arise. But the UNITY platform provides a good
barometer to measure their success. We’ll get back to you in a
year.
— E.F.P.
-LETTERSJSe editor
UNITY broke campus policy
We are writing in regard to the
article (DN, March 14) concerning
the election results. We found a
wonderful example of our leadership
here at UNL. In the very first sen
tence on the first page, you wrote “..
. the phone rang at 10:40 p.m. Wednes
day in UNITY co-campaign manager
Andrew Sigcrson’s Delta Upsilon room
. . Just three sentences later, the
article talked about a movie that the
UNITY group “had been watching
over beer and pizza.” So, in other
words, the party we just elected to the
most prestigious student position has
broken one of the biggest UNL poli
cies — drinking on a dry campus.
We know many students do these
same activities on our “dry” campus,
but we feel it ironic that our newly
elected ASUN party so blatantly broke
a major UNL policy even as they
awaiied news of their victory. Way to
be role models! We do not mean to
say that drinking is wrong, but being
in a leadership position, one must
abide by die policy, no matter if they
agree or disagree. Hopefully, the newly
elected ASUN members can do some
thing about the drinking on campus
while they are in office. Also, per
haps the fraternities could join sorori
ties and residence halls in the stricter
enforcement of the UNL alcohol
policy.
Debra Bacon
advertising
Smith student assistant
Jeff Stout
exercise physiology
Seilcck student assistant
DAVID DALTON
Helpful hints offered to AS UN
Now that the AS UN elections
arc decided, 1 suppose our
senators can once again turn
their minds to the business of govern
ing.
Personally, I think the incoming
flock shows some real potential. And
just to get things off to a good start,
I’d like to take it upon myself to
propose a few bits of legislation and
other el cetera that deserve consid
eration from our esteemed represen
tatives:
1. Do something about Danny Nee’s
ties. This is probably the most contro
versial of my suggestions, for a couple
of reasons. First of all, it involves
forming a committee. Also, if effec
tive, it may eliminate the most impor
tant link in the tungsten chain of our
Nebraska basketball offense.
AS UN should endorse a resolution
to form a committee to identify and
select candidates for someone to re
place the person who currently se
lects Danny Nee’s ties. Now, I have
to admit, I didn’t follow the basket
ball team very closely this season
and, therefore, I am not the most
competent authority on the subject of
the coach’s neckwear.
In fact, I only happened to notice
the problem during a television news
clip of him raving on the sidelines.
But let me tell you, this man has the
potential for some serious damage.
I was forced to conclude that the
reason for his garishly psychedelic
adornment was distraction. Maybe
our winning season can be attributed
to Nee’s tic rendering opponents unable
to concentrate on the game. An ad
vantage, true, but I think we have to
consider the regular Nebraska fans,
too. The danger of emotional trauma
and prolonged psychological disor
der from constant exposure to Danny’s
dangling dregs of discord is far too
significant to justify the good that can
be done.
The goal of the committee would
be to find a sane person to buy tics for
Nee. Of course, what will happen in
reality is that after millions of dollars
and thousands of abused egos, Nee’s
wife will be the only remaining can
didate. Still, the democratic process
will have been heroically disturbed.
2. Find out what that old green
house on 16th Street is. As long as
I’ve been a student here. I’ve walked
past that thing and wondered exactly
l when it fell out of the sky and why.
r There used to be a historical marker
t on the grounds, but I consider myself
I was forced to
conclude that the.
reason for_hil
ganshlx. BSMh&:
delic adornment
was distraction.
Mavbe our winnim
season can be at
tributed to Nee’s tie
rendering—Qggo^
Mats. UBUhk. to
concentrate on the.
game*
an average college student and I ig
nored it at every available opportu
nity. And, sadly, after one night of
particularly successful fraternity
events, the darn thing disappeared.
Now, neither I nor— I assume —
anyone else really knows what’s going
on with the house, except that it’s old
and gelling older.
Who knows? Maybe there are
people living inside who still think
it’s 1887. If we could find them and
talk to them, just think what we could
discover. It might even restore some
credibility to the Nebraska State His
torical Society after the Indian-re
mains fiasco.
3. Develop transporter technology.
As far as I can see, this is the only
realistic or economically feasible
solution to our parking problem. Face
it, everyone, we’re just not going to
get any more places to leave our cars.
We’d be better off trying to create
and install a network of transporter
beams, just like the ones you see on
Star Trek, that would whisk students
from their places of residence to class
in the morning. We could grass over
all the pavement — just think of all
the extra sleep you’d geL ASUN should
just channel a little money into re
search and development.
“But wait,” you say, “This is en
tirely unrealistic.”
Well, shut up. You obviously have
no concept of the nature of the prob
lem. Let me explain.
I watched a report on our inade
quate parking facilities on KETV
Newswatch 7 at 6 p.m. last Wednes
day. One of the reporter’s statements
went something like this: “IJNL is
probably benefilting from all the ille
gal parking that goes on because if it
didn’t, the university would be 40
percent short of parking places.”
Now, what in ‘tarnation are we
supposed to make of that brilliant
revelation? That if everyone parked
legally, 40 percent of those alleged
parkings would be non-parkings? Like
an imaginary number,except it would
be imaginary parking? If so, then the
problem would be purely metaphysi
cal, and those kinds of things never
bother the university anyway.
No, the real reason UNL benefits
from the parking disaster is that a
good parking cop doing his job well
can probably bring in up to S1,000 of
profit in a single day. If we’re going
to wean our institution of so great a
source of revenue, we’ll have to dangle
a pretty big carrot in front of the
regents. Revolutionary transporter
technology may be just the boon we’re
looking for.
Which, in a roundabout way leads
me to my next and last and, perhaps,
most important suggestion:
4. Lobby the Legislature to give
the university a Board of Recom
pense. This entity would be made up
of individuals who had come in dead
last in other races, such as ASUN
senate, NU Board of Regents, Knox
County Board of Weed and Pest
Control Commissioner, or just any
body off the street.
The Board of Recompense would
have the same powers as the Board of
Regents, coexist with them and even
vote on the same agenda. Only the
Recompcn items would cast their voles
exactly opposite to those of the re
gents, thereby cancelling them mer
cilessly out.
The university goes on unhindered.
Just think.
This has the added advantage of
clearing up the student regent vote
issue, unless of course the greeks will
take a shot at any position, no matter
how piddling or powerless. The way
they fight tooth and nail over jobs in
— get this — student government, 1
have to wonder.
Well, that’s it. I hope that some ol
my recommendations, at least, will
be helpful. But if none of them bear
any fruit, then there’s always the old
standby: Get ASUN to form a com
mittee to see what it is ASUN actually
does.
That would be interesting, too.
Dalton Is a Junior education major and a
Daily Nebraskan columnist.
